The following are news announcements made during the past week:
PRESS RELEASE:
Ericsson Launches IoT Accelerator Marketplace to Foster Collaboration
Ericsson is launching the IoT Accelerator Marketplace to help address the need for collaboration within the digital ecosystem community and benefit developers and service providers alike. For service providers, it is a catalog to find IoT apps from the global ecosystem to offer enterprise customers and provides shorter time to market for new offerings to their enterprise customers.
For application developers and application partners it is a window to an IoT ecosystem to connect with service providers through one single platform, exposing global cellular connectivity APIs. It also includes monetization and settlement capabilities to facilitate monetization and billing across the ecosystem.
Carrie MacGillivray, Group Vice President, Internet of Things & Mobility at Market Intelligence firm IDC, says: “Communications service providers are racing to scale and differentiate in the fast moving IoT market. It’s necessary for these service providers to have a robust developer ecosystem that helps them compete. For developers working across multiple service provider networks and platforms, the challenges of fragmentation are addressed by utilizing APIs that apply globally and are consistent across all mobile networks.”
Jeff Travers, Head of IoT, Ericsson, says: “The launch of IoT Accelerator Marketplace will unlock the potential for different players in the value chain to deliver value. It is another stepping stone to make 5G a reality by enabling massive adoption of massive IoT. This supports service providers as they seek to expose network connectivity IoT APIs and monetize these assets.”
Application developers can benefit from a new go-to-market exposing their offering globally through Ericsson. This will enable app developers to scale their business and at the same time develop applications based on cellular connectivity APIs with added value for enterprises, such as fast and automated device and subscription onboarding, higher security, ubiquitous cellular coverage around the world improved for indoor utilization, and superior handling of battery life.
IoT Accelerator Marketplace is being demonstrated by Ericsson at MWC 2018. Ericsson’s IoT Accelerator is a cloud-based horizontal offering comprising of platform services and professional services, for service providers. It provides continuous incremental functionality offered as a Service to enable agile creation and deployment of solutions for the Internet of Things.
PRESS RELEASE:
Lantronix to Preview Embedded Ethernet IoT Gateway
Lantronix, a global provider of secure data access and management solutions for the industrial Internet of Things (IoT), will be providing an early preview of its XPort Edge embedded ethernet IoT gateway at the Embedded World Conference (Hall 4A, Booth 300) in Nürnberg, Germany.
Since its introduction, the XPort serial to Ethernet device server has been a market leading module used by OEMs to easily add reliable network connectivity to industrial devices. To date, millions of IoT enabled devices have been deployed in the market using XPort, and every year that number grows by hundreds of thousands of units. XPort Edge, the latest innovation from Lantronix, will bring a new level of performance, enhanced security, pre-integrated device management capability and cloud connectivity to this popular platform, making it the first true wired IoT gateway in the industry in an easy to deploy RJ45 connector form factor.
“Wired Ethernet continues to be one of the most popular IoT connectivity options for Industrial IoT devices,” said Shahram Mehraban, Lantronix VP of marketing. “Built on a high performance real-time ARM based system-on-a-chip, the XPort Edge is a complete IoT gateway with a robust network communications stack, enterprise grade security, and integrated cloud-based device management, in the same patented form-factor as the popular XPort.”
Lantronix will also be demonstrating its new Lantronix Gateway Central Software as a Service (SaaS) powered by the Lantronix MACH10 IoT Platform. Lantronix Gateway Central enables device manufacturers, system integrators, solution providers, and end-users to provision and manage Lantronix IoT gateways quickly and securely. Lantronix Gateway Central SaaS offering is available for both external and embedded IoT gateways, including PremierWave XC HSPA+, PremierWave 2050, SGX 5150, the new xPico 240 and xPico 250 embedded wireless gateways, and the XPort Edge when available.
The company is also announcing the commercial availability of the xPico 250 embedded wireless gateway, which allows OEMs to quickly add robust dual-band industrial Wi-Fi, dual mode Bluetooth, and Ethernet network connectivity with enterprise security into their industrial devices. Like the xPico 240, the xPico 250 comes pre-tested and pre-integrated with the MACH10 Global Device Management, Lantronix Gateway Central, and TruPort Security including secure boot technology. The xPico 250 modules and evaluation kits will be available for order from Lantronix and its worldwide distribution partners later this quarter.
The company’s Embedded World booth will showcase real world IoT applications involving the use of Lantronix embedded and external IoT solutions. These include smart city, industrial automation, smart energy and resource management applications from OEMs worldwide.
PRESS RELEASE:
Asavie, Control Bring Secure IoT Intelligence to Motorsport
Asavie, a leader in secure Enterprise Mobility and IoT Connectivity, have announced with Control Ltd, part of the Westbase Group, a leader in cellular networking solutions, their telemetry solution targeting the high performance motor car racing industry which leverages Asavie’s on-demand secure IoT connectivity service. The purpose-built solution offers the endurance racing motor car industry resilient racetrack coverage; over the air updates and car-to-cloud connectivity for monitoring in real-time the vehicle and driver performance. This compelling set of benefits ultimately enables manufacturers to improve their engineering performance leading to better race times.
Control’s TLM-PRO Telemetry Modem, overcomes the challenge of providing full circuit coverage to race car manufacturers, something traditional radio-based solutions have struggled with. In conjunction with Asavie PassBridge, the solution offers secure extended track coverage from the edge to cloud. The TLM-Pro Cellular Telemetry Modem is currently used by private and manufacturer teams in championships including FIA WEC, ELMS, Blancpain Endurance Series and VLN.
Nathan Sanders, CTO, Westbase Group and founder of Control speaking about the alliance with Asavie said “Endurance Racing is a high-performance environment where teams are continually looking for the competitive edge that can make the difference come race time. Our partnership with Asavie provides our customers with an on-demand secure networking solution that helps us deliver that vital technical edge to ensure our customers are able to confidently monitor in real-time all critical aspects of the car’s performance without interruption.”
“Our software is constantly evolving based on feedback from testing, racing and working with teams and manufacturers. This software can be delivered over the air ensuring the car’s device stays up to date and has the latest features,” added Sanders.
Welcoming the announcement, Ralph Shaw, CEO, Asavie said, “Our partnership with Control Ltd. is a great example of how Asavie’s IoT connectivity services provide the secure foundation for the delivery of high-value vertical-specific solutions that can monetize the opportunities of the Internet of Things.”
“By securely managing network connections from the edge to the Cloud and eliminating the typical delays in network deployment, Control has been able to get their solution to market faster,” continued Shaw.
PRESS RELEASE:
Kerlink, DataLong16 to Demonstrate Asset-Tracking System in Barcelona
Kerlink (ALKLK – FR0013156007), a specialist and global leader in solutions dedicated to the Internet of Things (IoT), and DataLong16, a leader in asset-monitoring solutions, have announced the pilot deployment of an IoT network in the Port of Barcelona to help port authorities track and dispatch maintenance personnel in the port.
In addition to determining the exact location of the 10 vehicles in the port’s maintenance fleet in real time, the application will enable authorities to respond to calls for urgent repairs to facilities and equipment by sending personnel who are closest to the scene of the problem to make repairs.
Kerlink is providing its WanesyTM Management Center to power the LoRa core network, its WirnetTM iBTS Compact LoRaWANTM gateways to cover the entire area, and its WanesyTM Geolocation solver to provide geographic coordinates. The fleet monitoring system uses the LPWAN Development Kit from Flex, the Sketch-to-Scale solutions provider that designs and builds Intelligent Products for a Connected World, embedded in maintenance vehicles and communicating over the network to enable geolocation. DataLong16 is designing and operating the application software to map the vehicles’ status, locate the mission and route the nearest repair team on the spot.
Kerlink and DataLong16 will demonstrate this solution during Mobile World Congress at Kerlink’s booth (8.0 C11), February 26 to March 1.
“LoRa offers a longer application range at lower power consumption than competing technologies and was ideal for our bi-directional IoT communication and monitoring applications, including geolocation,” said Miquel Delamano, DataLong16 IoT network director. “Furthermore, the data is natively encrypted, assuring secure transmission. Working with Kerlink in a rapidly expanding IoT market will help us offer our customers, such as the Port of Barcelona, connectivity solutions to effectively manage assets and improve their fleet operations.”
“Like IoT network deployments in smart cities where Kerlink’s equipment is used to track assets, DataLong16’s system in the Port of Barcelona will immediately provide the port operator with insights of how their maintenance fleet is used and ways to make it more efficient,” said Virginie Bonnot, Kerlink Advanced Services business unit sales director.
PRESS RELEASE:
PoLTE, Sequans Collaborate on Location-Positioning Solution for Internet of Things
PoLTE Corporation has announced a new initiative with Sequans Communications (NYSE: SQNS) whereby the two companies will prototype a joint solution integrating PoLTE positioning technology into Sequans’ Monarch LTE Platform, enabling ultra-low power, highly-accurate indoor and outdoor positioning capability for LTE for IoT devices.
In a continuous effort to lead the market by reducing volume size, improving energy efficiency and lowering overall device costs, Sequans sees value in PoLTE’s Lite-Touch virtual location architecture. While other competitors will have to increase their costs, size and energy consumption by embedding GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or other radios just for location purposes, the jointly developed next generation prototype solution of PoLTE and Sequans aims to eliminate these barriers by utilizing only the LTE radio for accurate indoor and outdoor location capabilities.
The Monarch LTE Platform is a highly optimized LTE-M/NB-IoT chip that has been adopted by leading device makers and operators around the world. Monarch is optimized to support low data use, ultra low-power, and cost-sensitive IoT applications, such as smart energy meters, industrial IoT sensors, asset trackers, smart city controllers and consumer wearables.
This solution is based on off-loading small amounts of modem data to PoLTE’s cloud servers where location engines accurately calculate positioning of devices. If a location engine was embedded on the device itself, processing power and memory would be constrained while adversely impacting battery life and device size. For mass adoption, PoLTE believes that the wireless device itself should be minimally impacted while adding highly valued location capabilities.
“PoLTE shares a number of synergies with the Monarch platform, including support for constrained low power M2M and IoT devices,”said John Dow, CEO of PoLTE Corp. “Recent changes to our solution have made this collaboration possible, providing an opportunity to make secure ultra low power LTE positioning available to a wider range of devices and markets globally.”
PoLTE’s solution delivers secure and persistent location of any LTE-enabled device indoors or outdoors seamlessly by leveraging the existing and ubiquitous LTE network. This sets the solution apart from other solutions that rely on GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and hybrid location solutions, which usually require at least two different technologies for outside and in-building tracking.
“We are interested in adding high value technologies to the Monarch platform, that help to accelerate the market for LTE-M technology, ultimately accelerating the deployment of new LTE for IoT devices,” said Georges Karam, CEO of Sequans Communications. “PoLTE’s technology aligns perfectly with that mission, delivering highly accurate location capabilities that are key to almost all IoT applications, especially those limited by size and processing power.”
PRESS RELEASE:
STMicroelectronics, Sigfox Partner to Connect Billions of Devices
STMicroelectronics, a global semiconductor leader serving customers across the spectrum of electronics applications, and Sigfox, a world leading IoT service provider, have announced a collaboration agreement to support and accelerate the growing demand for connected devices for a broad range of applications.
These include supply-chain management, building and equipment maintenance, water and gas metering, security, transportation, agriculture, mining and home automation. ST will include the Sigfox networking software in its development tools that enable developers to bring their LPWAN-based products and solutions to market faster.
To speed customer adoption of Sigfox as a standard low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) for securely connecting physical devices to the Cloud and the IoT, ST will now offer the Sigfox networking software as part of ST’s MCU software package, including STM32 tool compatibility.
The collaboration agreement ensures tool compatibility for the industry-leading STM32 family of general-purpose microcontrollers, as well as with ST’s unique portfolio of technologies and products suitable for Sigfox technology. These include theS2-LP, a high performance and ultra-low-power sub-GHz radio transceiver, the highly secure, Sigfox-compatible STSAFE-A1SXsecure element, a wide range of motion, environmental, and audio sensors, and power and power-management devices.
PRESS RELEASE:
Avast Announces Smart IoT Security Platform
Avast, the leader in digital security products, has announced its ‘Smart Life’ platform, a new Internet of Things (IoT) security offering that protects people’s digital lives. The Smart Life platform uses artificial intelligence (AI) technology to identify and block threats and is delivered through a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model to service providers and customers. The new offering makes it simple for consumers and small businesses to secure their IoT devices, networks and sensitive data whether at home, in the office or on-the-go.
With IoT growth predicted to more than triple by 2025 to over 75 billion connected things, manufacturers are under pressure to deliver smart devices to market quickly and at an affordable price; however, this often means security features are neglected. The Smart Life platform solves the problem of unsecured IoT devices leaving users vulnerable to cyberattacks.
“It has been five years now since the first well-publicized hack of a baby monitor in Texas. Since then, IoT devices have transformed our homes and workplaces, but the security of these connected devices has not been significantly improved and users are still at risk. We increasingly expect convenience and enjoyment from smart devices like smart speakers, smart doorbells or IP cameras, but with this rapid adoption comes a real urgency to address the complex challenge of protecting them,” said Gagan Singh, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Mobile at Avast.
He continued, “With over 400 million active users worldwide at Avast, we get unparalleled insights into how IoT devices work which feed our cloud-based machine learning engine to identify and quickly block anomalies, botnets and other threats to IoT devices. When developing the Smart Life platform to harness the power of this technology, our focus was on delivering a security service that is easy for people to use to secure all of their IoT devices and networks.”
The reality is that many smart devices can be compromised, including thermostats, streaming boxes, webcams and digital personal assistants – and consumers and small businesses are among the most vulnerable users. One of the more common types of attack is when cybercriminals hack thousands of IoT devices in unsuspecting households to create networks of infected devices known as botnets to perform attacks on others. We expect to see an increase in this type of criminal activity along with personal data theft and threats to physical security in 2018 and beyond.
Avast’s initial offerings based on the Smart Life platform will provide consumers with protection and visibility into what is happening on their home network. Key features include the detection of privacy threats, botnets and malware as well as safe browsing and prevention of Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks.
An example of how the solution works to detect threats is if a smart heating thermostat is turned on at an unusual time and is transmitting data in high volume to an unknown country, then Avast can instantly take action to shut down the attack and alert the family to the strange activity. As the service is rolled-out, additional features will be available. These include the ability to pause Internet access, limit screen time and the addition of robust content filters.
Available later this year, users will be able to get Avast Smart Home Security directly through a mobile app with a hub that will work with any router. Avast is also working with telecommunications providers to deliver a joint offering to their subscribers.
PRESS RELEASE:
Riot Micro, Amarisoft Demonstrate NB-IoT/LTE-M Module Reference Design
Riot Micro, a start-up providing purpose-built silicon for IoT systems, and telecom software vendor Amarisoft will demonstrate a low-power dual-mode NB-IoT and LTE-M module reference design at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week (booth H5-K13). The demonstration will feature Riot’s RM1000 module design and Amarisoft’s AMARI LTE 100 software running on a compact software defined radio (SDR) platform.
Riot’s module reference design is based on the RM1000 NB-IoT baseband modem and integrates all of the circuitry required to implement NB-IoT and LTE-M into a low cost 18x23mm form factor. Supporting 17 global bands, modules can be built for IoT device OEMs that need a single-SKU design for deployment on global networks. Modules based on the design will feature an ultra-low current in eDRX mode, supporting a battery life in excess of 10 years, making it ideal for a variety of applications for the asset tracking, smart city, smart home and metering markets.
“We are excited to showcase the reliability and small form factor of the Amarisoft NB-IoT network connected to the Riot Micro module at MWC. Interoperability testing began a few months ago, and we closely collaborated to fine tune the NB-IoT software eNodeB,” said Amarisoft CEO Franck Spinelli. “The demonstration highlights how both Riot’s silicon and Amarisoft’s LTE test solutions are ahead of the curve in terms of supporting the evolving standards and application requirements of the global IoT market.”
The AMARI LTE 100 is a software suite including eNB, ePC, eMBMS gateway and IMS test server. The software allows end-to-end communication from up to 1000 commercial user devices. AMARI software components are 3GPP release 13 compliant, and are easy to install and configure through JSON config files. The system is ready for automation and administration using Amarisoft’s WebSocket remote API.
“Riot Micro is at the forefront of NB-IoT technology and required a testing partner equally advanced. With SDR and software flexibility, as well as exceptional customer support, Amarisoft stood apart in meeting this need,” said Peter Wong, CEO of Riot Micro. “The high quality of their software enabled quick validation of the interoperability of the RM1000 to address the needs of global IoT networks.”